

Now Streaming
The 25 Best Movies on Netflix to Watch in August 2026
From comedy classics to recent Oscar winners, these are the titles you don’t want to miss.
By Chris Feil

Little Gold Men
What the Venice and Toronto Lineups Tell Us About Oscar Season
There are fewer major studio debuts at film festivals this year—but buzzy projects about Rupert Murdoch, Elon Musk, and To Catch a Predator could wind up being Oscar contenders.
By Rebecca Ford

FIT CHECK
The Thomas Crown Affair Is One of the Most Stylish ’90s Movies—Can Michael B. Jordan’s Remake Match That Energy?
In the ’90s, Rene Russo wore fresh-off-the-runway fashion by Celine’s Michael Kors, who was then a budding star. Can Jordan’s remake pull off the same style coup?
By José Criales-Unzueta

The Sweetest Sounds
Inside the 30-Year Fight to Release Whitney Houston and Brandy’s Cinderella Soundtrack
Recording the album was a magical 48-hour whirlwind. Whitney Houston, a superstar in her vocal prime, and Brandy, the rising talent just discovering the full scope and range of her gifts, joined forces with the best producers in the game. So where is it?
By Chris Murphy

Forever 21
Tom Holland Is King of the Summer Box Office. Now It’s Time for Him to Grow Up.
With The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the 30-year-old actor is poised to be king of the box office this summer for playing two childish roles. We think it’s time for the actor to hang up the tights.
By Chris Murphy

Movies
Exclusive First Look: Dakota Johnson and Ellen Burstyn Play Marilyn Monroe
Maggie Gyllenhaal wrote and directed the short film Flesh Impact, which is timed to Monroe’s 100th birthday and will play at the Venice Film Festival.
By Rebecca Ford

Hollywood
The Odyssey Stuntman Simone Moncada On Training to Steer Odysseus's Ship and Sharing a Scene With Zendaya
Simone “Sinck” Moncada spoke with VF Italy about what it means to be a professional stunt performer—and shared the details of his experience on the set of epic blockbuster The Odyssey.
By Alice Politi

Film Bros
Casting Elon Musk’s “Historically Accurate" Version of The Odyssey
Musk has promised to have his AI model make a “historically accurate” version of The Odyssey and has expressed a willingness to give Mel Gibson $100 million for another kind of adaptation. Here’s what we think a Musk-produced Odyssey could look like.
By Chris Murphy

Film
Matt Damon Struggled Through His Odyssey Transformation
The actor’s physical journey to play Odysseus in the Christopher Nolan film has been the focus of a great deal of attention and praise, including from his co-star Charlize Theron, but credit for the result on the big screen also goes to his stunt double, Devyn Dalton.
By Anna Zucca

Awards
Can The Odyssey Outdo Oppenheimer at the Oscars? A Case for Success.
Christopher Nolan’s star-studded adaptation could eclipse Oppenheimer’s haul of 13 nominations and seven Oscars.
By Rebecca Ford

Movies
Samantha Morton Says Making The Odyssey Was a “Religious” Experience
The two-time Oscar nominee reveals the magic behind her scene-stealing Circe sequence, how grounded Zendaya is, and a take that made Christopher Nolan’s crew burst into applause.
By Rebecca Ford

Hollywood
The Odyssey’s Epic Box Office Haul Breaks The “Go Woke, Go Broke” Myth
Christopher Nolan’s film made over $264 million this weekend, once again proving flops like Ghostbusters and The Little Mermaid weren’t due to politics—and people will pay for a great yarn.
By Hillary Busis

all greek to me
How Christopher Nolan Updates The Odyssey
The filmmaker takes a bit of poetic license with Homer’s epic. Here’s a tour through the movie’s most notable changes from the source material, with bonus commentary from famed classicist Emily Wilson.
By Natasha O'Neill
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commentary
Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey Is Going to Drive the Right Wing Completely Insane
The Oscar winner’s latest is a Trojan horse of a film: a rip-roaring blockbuster secretly carrying a sober meditation on civility and intolerance. And Elon Musk is going to despise it.
By Hillary Busis

MOVIES
Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey: Everything to Know About the $250 Million Blockbuster Filmed Almost Entirely Without Digital Effects
The cinematic adaptation of Odysseus’s decade-long journey home to Ithaca boasts a superstar cast including Matt Damon, Zendaya, and even Travis Scott as a bard at the court of the Phaeacians. Here’s everything you need to know before heading to the theater on July 17.
By Valentina Colosimo

Mane Character Energy
A Cut Above the Rest: An Ode to Hair Acting
Newly minted Emmy nominee Sarah Pidgeon serves up the latest great use of hair as an acting tool, an age-old practice pioneered by the likes of Audrey Hepburn and Cameron Diaz.
By Rebecca Ford
what is cinema?
Jennifer Garner on Making a “Painful” Movie With Matthew McConaughey, Showing Her Kids Alias, and the Powerful Scene That Still Makes Her Cry
From 13 Going on 30 to Love, Simon, Garner breaks down pivotal moments in her 30-year career—including the suggestive scene with Leo DiCaprio that she’s a bit embarrassed her son has watched.
By Savannah Walsh

hollywood
Inside CAA’s Secret AI “Vault,” Where Actors Can Live Forever—If They Want
One intrepid reporter journeys into the nondescript building where Hollywood’s biggest stars can be digitally cloned. What comes next for those replicas is anyone’s guess.
By Joy Press
Hollywood
Penelope Cruz on Marriage With Javier Bardem: “I Feel Like I'm Still Learning”
After 16 years of marriage, Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem say their sense of wonder remains unabated.
By Alessandra De Tommasi

old hollywood book club
You’ll Have to Read Quincy Jones’s Autobiography to Believe It
Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones is brimming with incredible anecdotes about the polymathic music savant, from his horrifically traumatic childhood to his work with Michael Jackson and encounters with everyone from Pablo Picasso to Tupac.
By Hadley Hall Meares

MOVIES
Behind the (Sex) Scenes: A New Book Chronicles the Most Erotic Movies Of All Time
In the golden age of smut, a set of cinephile authors set out on a quest to academicize—and elevate—sex scenes in film. Their book, In the Mood, is out now.
By Elise Taylor